International Press Institute (IPI) March 2015 Steven M. Ellis * Turkish authorities’ failure to safeguard – and, in some cases, their active steps to undermine – the right to share and receive information has led to serious deficiencies in the country’s democracy, placing its future at serious risk, a special report released today by the […]

Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV) March 2015, 115 p. TESEV’s Democratization Program Nur Kırmızıdağ * Research on Public Trust in the Police in Turkey, is based on survey data collected on a large-scale sample representative of Turkey. The report provides insights on perceptions of the public with regard to effectiveness/performance, legitimacy of the

The Guardian Weekly (UK) 27 March 2015, p. 19 Yavuz Baydar * Intimidation and imprisonment mean the free media is on the verge of extinction, while government-friendly moguls are given lucrative contracts. Among journalists, the truth universally acknowledged is that bad news commands more column inches than good. In Turkey, the even more depressing truism

Perhaps it was the remarks of Deputy PM Arınç and former President Gül that forced PM Davutoğlu to clarify his position regarding the ‘strong presidency’ model that President Erdoğan has been advocating for months.

Zübeyir Aydar, a leading figure in the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) based in Brussels, has claimed that the PKK is neither a separatist nor a nationalist organization, while also stressing that the group fully supports the jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan’s stance in the ongoing peace process.

The biggest party in Turkey currently is the ‘Erdoğan-must-be-stopped party,’ according to Turkish political scientist and author Ateş İlyas Başsoy, who believes the HDP will be key in the upcoming general elections.